Developer- and Publisher-specific Articles: Sony

Sony has announced that they will be expanding the PlayStation 4 line with a Destiny bundle that comes with a new Glacier White model. The pack will launch this fall and come with the system, a 30-day membership to PS Plus, and a copy of Destiny for $449. Alongside the model, Sony will also be releasing white peripherals, including a Dual Shock 4 and vertical stand. Several features were also announced, including greater Youtube integration, which will allow users to share, view, and upload videos. Another feature will allow PS3 and PS4 owners to invite PSN friends to join multiplayer sessions in titles they don’t own, with support announced for Far Cry 4.

Sony will be releasing new updates tomorrow for PS4, PS App, and PS Vita. The latter updates are largely for improving integration with the PS4, which will itself be receiving a host of new features and long-awaited improvements. A breakdown of each is available below, but PS4 gamers can now look forward to being able to capture gameplay on external devices, edit gameplay footage on the system itself, download pre-ordered games in advance, use voice commands with PS Camera, and easier, improved sorting options for Friends and Trophies.

Sony announced earlier today that the PS4 has passed another milestone with news that over 7 million units have been sold as of April 6. On the software side, over 20.5 million copies have been sold in stores and online through the PS Store as of April 13. The system passed the 6-million-sales mark in hardware and 13-million-sales mark in software just this last month. A list of the 120 titles slated for release this year has also been posted online at PlayStation Blog.

The Oculus Rift’s competition is getting stiffer with the announcement that Sony is entering the VR fray with a new headset, Project Morpheus. No release date was announced, but the headset will work alongside the PlayStation Camera to give PS4 gamers the feeling “as though they are physically inside the virtual world of a game.” Inertial sensors within the camera and headset will track head rotation so that the game world moves naturally with the player’s motions, and the set will also support the PS Move Motion Controller, with the headset projecting an object in place of the controller. The Morpheus will also use 3D audio technology to produce sounds on the same plane as well as above and below the player.

After selling 370,000 units in Japan since its launch on February 22, the PlayStation 4 has passed the 6-million-unit mark, according to a new announcement from Sony. In addition, PS Plus is also increasing in numbers, as according to the release, “in addition to existing members, more than half of PS4 owners are enjoying the benefits of PS Plus.” On the software side, Killzone: Shadow Fall has now sold over 2.1 million copies worldwide, while general software sales have reached over 13.7 million sales in stores and through PS Store for all available games.

The slimmer, OLED-less model of the PS Vita released last October in Japan will be making its way to North America this spring. The PCH-2000 series has 1 GB of internal memory, an additional hour of battery life, and is also around 20 percent slimmer and 15 percent lighter than the model currently for sale. The unit will be sold alongside Borderlands 2 (with six DLC packs) and an 8 GB memory card as part of the $199.99 Borderlands 2 Limited Edition Bundle.

Gamers looking to pick up the PS4 at launch will be able to access a variety of streaming apps, according to Sony. On November 15, the following apps are scheduled to go live for download: Amazon Instant Video, Crackle, Crunchyroll, Epix, Hulu Plus, NBA Game Time, Netflix, NHL GameCenter Live, Redbox Instant by Verizon, Vudu, and YuppTV. As with the PS3 and PS Vita, all apps will be available from PSN.

The PlayStation 4 is still several months away, but next week, Comic-Con attendees will be able to get some hands-on time with the system. In addition to being able to check out some new peripherals, including the camera and headset, gamers will be able to try three titles for themselves at SCEA’s booth (#301): #DriveClub, Knack, and Octodad: Dadliest Catch. There will also be demos of five PS3 games, including Beyond: Two Souls and Diablo III, 10 PS Mobile games, and six PS Vita games on display, detailed below, as well as staff to help attendees make their way around each title. Some gamer-centric panels were also detailed, including a The Last of US signing and another discussing Telltale’s Walking Dead series.

Sony revealed initial details about the PlayStation 4 today at the two-hour-plus PlayStation Meeting 2013 in New York. While the final hardware build wasn’t shown and price not announced, the technical specifications and upcoming software features were. The upcoming cycle of Sony’s flagship console will focus on server-side, cloud-based streaming, social media integration, and greater connectivity with mobiles, in particular the PS Vita.

Sony has announced that the PS3 sold over 525,000 consoles and the PS Vita over 160,000 during Black Friday week. According to the company’s number-crunching robots, that represents a 15% increase for PS3 bundle sales and a 9% increase over last year for hardware, software, and peripherals sales. Latin America posted the most significant increase, with “year-over-year sales growth increase of 200%.” SCEA President and CEO Jack Tretton noted that the company is “very pleased” with their Black Friday numbers.